Knowers & Demons V: From the Wings of Madness
by Enthusiastic Fish
Summary: My entry for the NFA King Me! Challenge. It's also part V of my supernatural/horror and buddy series. Tim is a knower and Tony is his...helper. In this case, Greta has decided that Tim isn't doing what he needs to do and so she is going to force him to accept what he did in part IV of this series. As Greta does, she goes as far as possible. 6 chapters and epilogue. One per day.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is my entry in the NFA King Me! challenge. We were to take the title of a book by Stephen King and use that as our inspiration. I chose _Dreamcatcher_, but it has nothing to do with that story. I just use the imagery of a dreamcatcher. I also use the lyrics from the song "Dreamcatcher" by Secret Garden. This is part of a series and there are enough details that you might get a little lost if you jump in here. Tim is what is called a knower. He was chosen as a child and given a tattoo of a three-headed dragon which is not visible to most of the world. Tony got dragged into his crazy world on accident and then chose to help Tim where he could. It's a horror/supernatural buddy series. :) Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own NCIS, its characters or the lyrics to "Dreamcatcher". I am not making any money off this story. Alas.

* * *

**From the Wings of Madness  
**by Enthusiastic Fish

"_Today I felt pass over me a breath of wind from the wings of madness."  
__Charles Baudelaire_

**Chapter 1**

_It was a cave. It had a very large opening. A strong breeze blew into it constantly. Carried on the breeze were wisps of...of something. They were caught, however. Caught in a web of material that covered the entire opening. Each wisp almost seemed to struggle to escape the web at first._

_...but then, a hand reached out and pulled the wisps away from the webbing. The wisps were taken and stored in a basket._

_There was a woman sitting behind the webbing, watching it with white eyes. Her eyes were white. Her hair was white. She herself was essentially white. She was smiling as she caught each wisp and secured it in the basket. She had been saving them for months. _

_There was another test coming. The knower had taken on every challenge thus far, but he was still not reaching his full potential. He had to reach his potential in order to have a chance of saving the world. The knower was fighting against his nature, but it had to become second nature to him. He had destroyed Mongothsberd. He had sealed off the demon world. He had been introduced to Sleep and Death. (Here, she smiled, knowing how ambivalent the knower was about her.) He had even taken the dreamer into himself and was learning to control the dreamworld as well as reality._

_Now, he would have to fight those dreams...and not just dreams. He would have to fight nightmares. Not his own. She almost had a full basket now. That was what she was needing. How would he deal with them? She didn't know._

_The breeze picked up and began to swirl. The webbing began to tremble as the breeze became a gale. _

"_You are disturbing the dreams," she said calmly._

"_This could be wrong," the dark figure said as he took shape._

"_It is necessary."_

"_The world will not understand."_

"_He will not, either. So?"_

"_So...you know what they can be like."_

"_Yes."_

"_You are not worried?"_

"_No. When the time comes, it will be fine, but if we do nothing, he will fail."_

"_And yet, is this process the right way to go?"_

_She stood and gestured out through the webbing. The dark figure joined the white figure and they stared out at the world._

"_The world is breaking. He is the one who broke it. He is the one who must repair it. Are you prepared to die when the world does?" She turned to him. "Is Death ready to die? I am not prepared to sleep for all time."_

"_No, but I think this could go badly."_

"_It could, but we will watch."_

"_And do nothing?"_

"_He has others who also watch."_

"_And this?" he asked, gesturing to the web._

"_It appeared when I made my plan. That is the danger."_

"_What is it?"_

"_A dreamcatcher. It is a tradition within some human groups. For some they are meant to catch the good dreams and leave the bad ones. For others, they are supposed to trap the bad dreams and let the good through. I am using it to trap the bad dreams."_

"_For him?"_

"_Yes. For him. The knower does not yet know enough."_

"_When will you begin?"_

"_Soon. My basket is full. It is ready to be loosed."_

"_Like Pandora."_

"_She let her ills out on the world. I am letting the dreams out on one man...for the good of the world."_

_The breeze brought another wisp to the dreamcatcher. It was trapped. She caught it and smiled._

"_This is a nightmare of the companion to the knower."_

"_Will you use that?"_

"_Yes. I will use them all."_

"_It may break him."_

"_It will not. It will teach him. He will learn."_

"_And if he does not?"_

"_Then, he is weak and would fail in any case. Better that we know now."_

"_You do not think he will?"_

"_No. I do not think he will fail."_

"_When will he receive these dreams?"_

_She smiled. "I will begin and use them all."_

"_When he is awake?"_

"_Yes. The world will not break at his convenience."_

"_I will say it again. This could fail because it will not be understood."_

"_It does not matter."_

_Death swirled the darkness around him and disappeared. _

_Greta was left behind, staring at the dreamcatcher as another wisp became lodged in it. Carefully, she reached out and pulled it away, looking at the nightmare she'd trapped. It was a particularly bad one. Some people managed to have nightmares that were more terrifying than anything they ever saw in their lives. Sometimes, nightmares were frightening for reasons unknown to her. This one, for instance. The emotion associated with it was sheer terror, but the dream itself was nothing more than darkness._

_She smiled and added it to her basket._

_It was full._

_Time to go and begin the games._

_She swirled the air around her. The webbing of the dreamcatcher detached from the cave and wrapped around her as well. In seconds, she was gone._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim opened his eyes and woke up, breathing heavily. He couldn't think of what had just happened. He hadn't had a genuine nightmare in a long time, but this had definitely been a nightmare.

...although, now that he was awake, he wasn't sure why it had been so frightening. It had just been darkness. Still, he couldn't rid himself of the sheer terror he had felt. It made him a little shaky.

"Jethro?" he called.

In moments, his dog was on his bed, licking his face.

"I don't know where that came from, but I'm glad it's over," he said. "Would it be too much to ask for a normal day, Jethro?"

Jethro barked at him.

"You're probably right. Well, I can't avoid it by staying in bed. After that nightmare...I don't really want to anyway."

Tim got up and got ready for the day, unable to shake his feeling of foreboding.

He was sure that something would be going wrong today.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Greta opened the basket and let out another of the wisps. She smiled as it surged and changed, getting larger as it was released, becoming the nightmare. The nightmare of a firefighter who'd had some bad experiences over his years._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim finished getting ready quickly and decided to head in to work early. He walked to his door and opened it.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony woke up feeling great. For once, he hadn't had a nightmare. Ever since he'd become involved in all the crazy stuff Tim was dealing with, he'd had nightmares fairly regularly. Not every night, but frequently enough that any night without them was considered wonderful by default.

He got ready for the day, thinking that this was a good sign of how things would go.

It _was_ a good sign, but it turned out not to be a good sign of good things. It was just accurate. Something out-of-the-ordinary...

Just as he was getting ready to leave for work, his phone rang. He answered and was shocked by the shouting going on.

"_Tony! The fire! The fire won't stop! I don't know where it came from but it's everywhere!"_

Tim was shouting at the top of his lungs. Tony could hear Jethro barking loudly, but he couldn't hear any other sound indicating a fire. None of the roaring or anything.

"Where are you, Tim?" he asked.

"_Home! I'm home! I opened the door and the fire was everywhere!"_

Tony wasn't sure about what Tim was saying, but Tim had experienced strange and disturbing things before. Who was he to say otherwise? He ran out of his apartment, got in his car and headed for Tim's place.

"_Fire! Fire!"_

Tim was almost shrieking in his terror...and then, the phone disconnected. That only spurred Tony to go faster.

When Tony got to Tim's apartment, he was surprised to see one police car parked out front. He was worried that Tim's screeching had something to do with the presence of the cops. He ran into the building and up to Tim's apartment. There were a few people standing in the hallway, peering into Tim's open door. Quickly, Tony pulled out his badge and made his way through the crowd and saw the backs of two Metro cops.

"Hey, NCIS, Agent McGee works with me. What's going on?" Tony asked, keeping his voice reasonable.

The Metro police turned around, and Tony could see Tim sitting on his computer chair, looking wigged out...and, strangely, a bit embarrassed.

"Your colleague woke up the entire building screaming about fire until his neighbors called us, worried that he was dying. We came in and he was standing in the middle of the room, looking out of his mind. We talked to him, and it was like he just woke up or something."

"Hey, Tony," Tim said, smiling weakly. "Sorry if I bothered you."

Tony smiled back, although he could see Tim's fear.

"I was going to be ready early anyway. I slept well."

"Lucky you. I didn't."

"Are you going to need him for anything?" Tony asked.

The cops shrugged. "I don't see that we do since he's clearly in his right mind right now, but no more screaming, all right, Agent McGee?"

"Not in my plans," Tim said.

The cops nodded and left, telling the people in the hall to go about their business. They closed the door behind them.

"What happened?" Tony asked as soon as they were alone.

"I opened the door to leave and there was a fire. It was everywhere around me and it was like I couldn't even think anymore. ...and then, it was over...just like that." Tim sighed. "I can't even explain it."

"A nightmare?"

"Only I was awake."

"Sounds familiar."

Tim smiled. "This wasn't like what happened a few months ago. It's not like when we were trapped in my head. This isn't my dream."

"So...what is it, then?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure Greta has something to do with it."

Tony groaned. "Great."

"Yeah."

"You think it'll happen again?"

"I have no idea. I didn't know it was going to happen the first time."

"For a knower, you've sure been saying you don't know a lot."

Tim smiled. "My skills as a knower don't extend to dreams."

"But you...absorbed or whatever the dreamer. Wasn't that to help with that?"

"Not to _know_ dreams, but so that I could use them better. I think."

"You _think_?"

Tim sighed. "I just don't know. There are times when everything is clear and I know what I'll have to do, but sometimes...I feel like I don't know anything at all. Like now. Why did I see that? What for? I don't know!"

He leaned forward and closed his eyes, looking dejected.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Greta smiled as she pulled another wisp out of the basket and blew on it gently._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look at it.

"Hey, McGee, did you–?"

Tim suddenly straightened, looking confused.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?"

"That sound. It's coming from back there."

Tim got to his feet and started to walk into his bedroom. Tony looked around for the...something or other he thought he'd seen, but it seemed to have vanished, or never to have been there in the first place.

"From under the bed," Tim muttered, almost to himself.

Suddenly, Tim let out an inarticulate shout of terror and nearly ran Tony over in his efforts to get away. Tony was surprised to see him cower behind his computer chair. He looked back into the bedroom, trying to see what Tim was hiding from.

There was nothing.

Tony strained to see that _other_ world that he could sometimes notice (and usually tried _not_ to).

He still saw nothing.

"What's going on, McGee? What do you see?" he asked.

"Can't you see the monster?" Tim asked, his voice soft and shaking.

"No. There's no monster here, Tim. Not in _any_ reality."

"Yes, there is! In mine, there is!" Tim said, his voice rising close to a shriek again.

Tony knelt down in front of Tim.

"Hey! There's nothing there!"

Tim barely seemed to hear him and so Tony grabbed him and shook him.

"Tim! Look at me! Nothing is there!"

Tim looked at Tony for a second, seeming utterly bewildered...and then, he looked back toward the bedroom. ...and then, back at Tony.

"There's nothing there," he said in surprise.

"No. There's not."

Tim got to his feet. He walked hesitantly to the door of his bedroom and looked inside. Then, he looked back at Tony.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'd like to ask you that," Tony said. "All I saw was you freaking out."

"I heard something and then...there was a monster coming out from under the bed."

"A monster under the bed? That sounds like a little kid problem."

"Yeah, it does. Why would I be seeing monsters under the bed, Tony? This doesn't feel like anything...of...my normal. I don't know what's going on."

Tony grimaced. "I don't like it when you don't know, McGee. That's a sign that there's something even weirder going on than usual. I don't like that!"

"I don't like it, either," Tim said, "...but..."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_A wisp floated out of the basket. Greta blew on it, stirring it on its way._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

When Tim became aware of his surroundings, he was lying on the floor and Tony was holding him down, looking frightened.

"What's going on?" Tim asked.

"Stop asking me that."

"But...but...I..."

Tony pulled Tim to his feet. Tim looked around. For a moment, he thought he knew...but then, the feeling was gone and he was adrift without a clue of what was going on.

"Tim, this isn't good."

"I know. I know, but...but I can't explain it."

"I don't know if you should go into work with this..stuff going on. You already had your neighbors calling the police. You were screaming at me through the phone."

Tim smiled weakly. He only vaguely remembered the police coming in. He didn't really remember calling Tony. It was a strange situation. He didn't know why he was suddenly having waking nightmares. The dreamer part of himself wasn't telling him anything about this.

_What am I supposed to do?_ he asked silently.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Greta smiled at the question. He had the answers inside him, but he wasn't finding them. He wasn't even _touching_ that power he had._

"'_In the real world as in dreams, nothing is quite what it seems,'" she said, repeating the same rhyming couplet that had become a theme for her dealings with the knower._

_He needed to remember that. It was important and he was ignoring the truth of the statement. It was vital that he stop pushing that to the side and embrace what he was._

_And she'd get him to do it if she had to force him._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim wanted to leave all this behind. He hated how he was feeling here. He was certain it had to be part of the supernatural aspect of his life, but it was like there was a curtain, a veil, blocking him from understanding it.

"Tim, what are you going to do?" Tony asked.

Tim looked at Tony. He really couldn't think of anything to do besides what was normal.

"Go to work?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tony asked, looking a little worried about the idea.

"No, but I really don't have any other idea at all. Tony, until something presents itself to me as an idea...I think I just have to go along with it."

"And if you freak out again?"

"At least someone will be there to talk me down."

"McGee..."

"Maybe I'm just going crazy, Tony," Tim said. "After everything I've had to deal with...maybe I'm just losing it."

Tony shook his head. "No. No way."

"Who knows? If this was anyone else, we'd think he _was_ crazy."

"No."

Tim sighed and shook his head. "I can't see anything else that I can do but go to work...and hope that was it."

"You really think it is?"

"Not based on my usual luck."

"You sure about going to work?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. I think so."

"Okay. I'll keep my eye you."

Tim smiled. "I hope you will."

They left the apartment.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Greta opened the basket again. She searched through the nightmares and let out two wisps. In moments of desperation, humans would reach out for any possible solution. Often, they would be surprised by solution that came to hand. The knower would learn._

_She smiled._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Tim threw himself to the floor and crawled under his desk, his hands over his ears.

"Stop it! Stop it!" he shouted.

It was too late to protect Tim from anyone seeing him. It might have worked if he'd been quiet...but he wasn't. Tony ran over to Tim's desk, and crouched down.

"McGee. Shut up! Quiet!" he said in a low voice.

Tim's expression was one of terror and he wasn't hearing Tony.

"What's going on?"

"Is that Tim?"

"What's wrong?"

Too many people and Tim was hiding under his desk, freaking out about something. Before Tony could think of something to say to diffuse the situation (Was that really even possible?), Gibbs came in.

"DiNozzo!"

Tony looked at Gibbs...and he knew that his expression was helpless at best. Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, Boss."

Suddenly, Tim went quiet.

"Oh, no."

That was all he said.

"McGee?"

There were a few seconds of silence and then, Tim crawled out from under his desk looking both embarrassed and frightened.

"My office," Gibbs said. "Now."

Tim nodded.

"Tony, you, too."

Tony followed, relieved that he was being included in this thing. Tim might not know what was causing it, but Tony was sure that it had something to do with the whole knower thing. They walked to the elevator, aware that there were a lot of eyes on them. Tony looked at Tim who was actually trembling a little bit and was barely paying attention to anything.

They got on the elevator and it moved for all of two seconds before Gibbs stopped it.

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, Boss," Tim said shakily.

"What did you see, Tim?" Tony asked.

"Murder...by a monster," Tim said with a helpless laugh. "And I was hiding. ...and I don't even know...Boss...I..."

"This isn't the first time?"

"Not today, but I've never had this before."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. It's like I'm seeing nightmares...but I don't know why. Boss, really! I don't know!"

"Shouldn't you know?"

Tim stared at the floor of the elevator.

"I don't know. I feel like...like I'm lost."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Greta decided to test how many nightmares the knower's mind could bear at once. At some point, it would just be a wash of noise...but a horrifying wash. She opened the basket and shook out a few of them and then blew them on their way._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

It was like all the horror of the demon world rolled into one insane assault on his mind. Occasionally, he would be able to track in on one piece of the madness, but he didn't _want_ to because what he saw was terrible.

At one moment, there were bugs crawling out of his skin and he tore at them. At another moment, he was stuck in quicksand and slowly sinking into inevitable oblivion. At another, he was drowning and he couldn't breathe. There seemed to be no end to the horror.

The only thing that kept his mind from breaking completely beneath the onslaught was the fragile tendril that knew these weren't _his_ nightmares. His only dreams now were reminders of what would happen to the world when it fractured.

These were nightmares. Not realities, just nightmares. Terrors. Horrors. But not real.

Not real.

They weren't real.

Then, he thought he saw something.

A dreamcatcher.

Before he had the chance to wonder about that, there were stinging sensations on his face. Lots of them. They hurt.

He opened his eyes...and saw...

"Ducky?" he asked. "Where did you come from?"

"Where I always have, lad," Ducky said. His expression was almost one of fear.

That seemed like a strange answer, but then, Tim looked around and realized he was no longer in the elevator. He was in Autopsy.

With Ducky staring at him in concern.

Then, he realized, too, that he couldn't move his arms. He tugged experimentally at whatever was holding them back and made another realization.

He was being restrained. He turned his head and saw both Tony _and_ Gibbs holding him. He wondered what he should say because something bad had obviously happened, something that had gone well beyond what Tony was ready to deal with...and given the fact that Tony had dealt with a _lot_ in the last couple of years, that was saying something.

"Did you see the dreamcatcher?" he asked. Actually, that probably wasn't the best way to start.

"What dreamcatcher, Tim?" Tony asked.

"Am I going crazy?" Tim asked.

Tony said nothing; so Tim shifted his gaze to Gibbs.

"Am I going crazy, Boss?"

"It's beyond my experience, McGee," Gibbs said.

That was more diplomatic than Gibbs had probably _ever_ been in his life. Tim turned back to look at Ducky. As he did, he noticed long scratches on his arms.

"Did I do that to myself?" he asked softly.

"Yes, Timothy," Ducky said.

"That's why I've got Tony and Gibbs holding me down?"

"Yes."

"Did you really need both of them?"

"Yes," Ducky said again. "You nearly flung yourself headfirst into the wall, Timothy. Then, when we stopped that, you started scratching at your arms. Then, you were just screaming. What happened?"

"I saw things. Nightmares," Tim said. "Can I have my arms back now?"

Tony and Gibbs let him go and Tim sat up on the Autopsy table, dangling his feet toward the floor. He took a deep breath and let it out. That had been intense.

"Timothy..."

"You think I'm nuts," Tim said. It wasn't a question. He could see it in Ducky's eyes.

"At the very least, there _is_ something wrong. This is not normal behavior for you."

Tim smiled a little. "No, it's not."

"It was of sudden onset?"

"Just started this morning. Very suddenly."

"You had no indication of any kind of...trigger?"

Tim laughed as the image of the dreamcatcher welled up in his mind. Then, he shook his head.

"No."

Suddenly, the entire situation struck him as amazingly absurd. He figured that there was something going on in the supernatural realm that was causing this, but how in the _world_ could he tell anyone besides Tony (and possibly, Gibbs) about that? He would sound insane! ...but his actions right now were those of someone who was completely unhinged, i.e. insane. That meant that, no matter what he did, he was going to be thought of as crazy. He couldn't help but laugh again. He ran both his hands through his hair and shook his head. If this didn't stop, he'd be in lockdown by the end of the day. Ducky was about to suggest it, Tim was sure.

...but, at the same time, he couldn't help but think that might be kind of nice. No needing to hide things. No needing to pretend he was normal. If he _was _in a psychiatric facility, he could tell his entire story and not have to worry about anything because there's no way anyone would believe him. It was actually tempting.

"Timothy?"

"You're going to say that I should go to the nuthouse," Tim said.

"No, but perhaps a psychiatric evaluation might be in order. If you can give no explanation for what happened."

"Ducky, he's not crazy!" Tony said from behind him.

"I didn't say he was, Anthony, but there could be another cause, one that we just don't know as yet."

Tim couldn't help it. He laughed again. Another cause indeed. That dreamcatcher. He was tired. He didn't want to fight whatever this was. If it was Greta, fine. If he was genuinely going crazy, becoming unhinged from all the things that had happened, fine. He was tired and maybe being treated as a nut would make his life a little easier for a while.

"Timothy, what is it?"

Tim turned around and looked at Tony. He raised an eyebrow and smiled a little. Tony squinted at him quizzically. Then, Tim turned back.

"What are you suggesting, Ducky?" Tim asked.

"That you allow me to take you to a friend of mine who works in the psychiatric unit of a hospital. They'll keep you under observation for 72 hours at most. They may be able to find out what the problem is."

"They won't."

"You don't think there's anything wrong?"

"I didn't say that," Tim said. "But can you see any reason for what happened?"

"Tim!"

"Shut up, Tony," Tim said, feeling weary. There just didn't seem to be any reason to fight against what was going on. At least, if he was having a breakdown in a psychiatric holding cell, it would be expected. "What if they don't figure it out? What then, Ducky?"

"It depends on what develops. If it gets resolved on its own, they may never figure it out."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Greta pulled open the basket and searched around. What would come next? Another full assault or just one particular chosen nightmare?_

"_Have you not been listening?"_

_She looked over at the whirl of black._

"_I have."_

"_You are not worried?"_

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Because the knower is not worried. Even if he has not understood, he knows."_

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim closed his eyes suddenly and then, they flew open again and he was no longer seeing anything. The difference was that, this time, he made no noise at all except for noisy irregular breathing. His fists clenched tightly and his eyes almost seemed to bug out of his head.

"Tim! Tim!"

Tim didn't respond to Tony. He was backing away from whatever he was seeing, and Gibbs was keeping him from falling off the table. Tony looked at Gibbs and caught his glance, but Tony couldn't say. Tim wasn't using the link he'd created...whether intentionally or otherwise, who knew? They hadn't had any reason to use it since Tim had absorbed the dreamer. Maybe, he couldn't. Maybe, he wasn't on purpose.

...but right now, Tim was as cut off from Tony as he was from reality itself.

"Timothy, can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. Tim blinked and looked around.

"What did you see, Tim?" Tony asked.

Tim shook his head, unwilling or unable to describe whatever had caused him to show such fear.

A nightmare. Tony wished that Tim had not decided to come to work. There was no way of avoiding what Ducky was suggesting...and Tim didn't seem interested in avoiding it anyway. He just seemed tired and resigned. Tony didn't want to see Tim going to the looney bin when he wasn't crazy, but he was getting the feeling that it was what _Tim_ wanted...for whatever reason.

"Timothy?"

"Do whatever, Ducky," Tim said softly. "I don't care."

"McGee," Gibbs said, stopping Ducky from moving for a moment.

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

Tim looked at Gibbs. He shook his head.

"No, but I don't see how I can pretend that it would be better not to go."

"Okay."

Tim started to stand up, but Tony held him back for a second. Gibbs and Ducky went into Ducky's office to call over.

"Why are you doing this, Tim?" Tony asked. "You know you're not crazy."

Tim surprised him by smiling a little.

"No, I don't, Tony. It's possible that all this stuff that's been going on has just become too much and my mind can't take it."

"No. Sorry, McGee, but I can't accept that. And I don't think you believe it, either. Why?"

Tim sighed. "Tony, I'm tired. I'm tired of being in the supernatural world. I'm tired of having to keep it all a secret. I'm tired of being someone that no one else will even believe exists. I'm just tired. If I go, then, I don't have to hide anything because they think I'm crazy anyway. Maybe I can figure this out there when I don't have to waste all this time trying to pretend that I'm normal."

"It's easy to go in a place like that, Tim...but it might be harder to get out."

Tim actually smiled as Ducky and Gibbs looked like they were coming out.

"It's only hard to get out if you can't control reality." He looked at Ducky. "Am I going?"

"Yes. If that does not go against your wishes."

"It doesn't."

"Very well, then, I will take you over. Remember, Timothy, that this is temporary and whatever is going on, may also be temporary."

Tim smiled.

"I know. Let's go."

Tony watched them leave. Gibbs paused.

"Well?"

"It's what he wants, Boss. I can't go against that if it's what he wants."

"Does he know?"

"Not that he's telling me."

Gibbs nodded and walked out.

Tony wondered what was going on. Was it Greta again?

As if in answer, he thought he heard something. It wasn't what he would have _thought_ he'd be hearing, but it was there.

"_Hear my silent prayer  
__Heed my quiet call  
__When the dark and blue surround you  
__Step into my sigh  
__Look inside the light  
__You will know that I have found you"_

"Who is that?" Tony asked. He turned around and caught a glimpse of white eyes...but it wasn't her usual words...not that _he_ had heard, anyway.

There was something going on, something more. Tim wasn't crazy...but the world might be.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_Greta smiled at the knower's companion. He was trying much more to understand, but he didn't have the tools to do so. Perhaps it was time to bring him to her plane once more, to let him know more than the knower would allow. The knower was still human and that meant being restrained by concern for others. Greta had none of that because she was not human. In fact, she shouldn't even exist. That had a way of changing one's point of view._

_Setting the basket of nightmares aside for the moment (the knower would have time to get to the place he had chosen), she ran one white hand across her skirt, pulling a strand away. Then, she began to swirl that strand faster and faster, concentrating on the knower's companion._

_She had never brought reality into this place. She didn't really know what would happen, but if it shook the earth closer to the Fracture, all the better. She was as patient as eternity, but that didn't mean she wouldn't choose to move things along when possible._

_She whispered the words to the song she had sung before and smiled as she saw the panic in his eyes. This was not what he had expected._

_All to the better. Sometimes, not knowing was a benefit to humans._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Timothy, you seem very calm right now."

Tim smiled. "I don't know how long that will last."

"Perhaps this is a mistake."

Tim shook his head. "No, it's only a reprieve."

"How do you know?"

Tim looked at Ducky and Gibbs.

"Sometimes...you just know." Those words had a deeper meaning that Ducky would understand. Even Gibbs, knowing as he did what Tim was, couldn't really understand all that knowing entailed. Tony couldn't understand it, either. Not completely.

"Very well. Here we are."

Tim nodded. He did wonder why there was a delay in the return of the nightmares that were not his own. He wondered why they were happening in the first place.

He wondered why he didn't care about getting put into psychiatric observation.

"This is Tim McGee?"

Tim refocused on what was going on. They'd walked into the hospital.

"That's correct," Ducky said.

Gibbs was strangely silent. Or rather, it wasn't really strange, Tim knew. Gibbs tended to speak very little at the best of times. It was just that he would have expected Gibbs to say something about this.

Then, there was a wisp that attracted his attention. He looked away from Ducky and the doctor and at the wisp. Where had that come from? What was that?

"Timothy?"

"McGee."

Tim didn't hear them...or at least, he didn't pay attention. That wisp was getting closer to him.

And then, before he had time to realize it, it exploded out into something he couldn't even understand. It was...

...water.

A whirlpool, sucking him down into oblivion.

As happened in dreams, he couldn't avoid seeing it as real. He couldn't get away from it. The water sucked him down and he couldn't breathe. He collapsed.

...and then, it was gone. Tim took a deep breath and let it out. He opened his eyes and saw Gibbs there, keeping him from falling to the floor.

"You're all right now?" Gibbs asked.

"I was drowning," Tim said softly.

"Drowning?"

Tim got his feet under him and stood up again. He smiled weakly at the doctor.

"Now, you know why I'm here," he said.

"Yes, I can see. We'll take you in for a seventy-two hour observation and we'll go from there. Is that all right?"

Tim nodded.

"All right. I'm Dr. Tragan and I'll be taking your case. Andy will take you back and get you checked in."

"All right."

Tim looked at Ducky and Gibbs.

"I guess I'll see you in a few days."

"Timothy, is there something you're not telling us?" Ducky asked.

Tim just smiled and turned to follow Andy back into the psychiatric wing of the hospital.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Mitchell?" Ducky said, hesitantly.

"You can't be asking me for an analysis right away, Don."

"Not a full analysis, but a preliminary?"

"Well, the reactions seem to be genuine. I would say that he's not putting on an act. It takes talent to act like you're drowning. His complete sanity in between, though. That's odd. To have the events be so completely discrete...that's not normal. He seems very accepting of coming here."

"Yes, he didn't fight it at all."

"All right...well, we'll see what we can see. I can't promise anything more than that. We'll do a full blood and tox screen to rule out anything external causing it. It may end up being idiopathic."

"If it stops, I can live with that. I don't like seeing Timothy this way."

"I understand that much. I'll let you know."

Dr. Tragan followed Tim and Andy back. Ducky looked at Gibbs.

"You've said almost nothing, Jethro."

"I'm just watching to see what happens."

"Timothy is keeping something from us."

"Probably. He may know more than he's telling us...or _think_ he knows more."

Ducky nodded.

"We'll just have to trust him, Duck. I don't think there's anything else we can do besides watch and wait."

"You're probably correct. It just came on so very suddenly. It seems strange to me. Almost as if someone had managed to force him to have nightmares while he's awake."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_When the swirling stopped, Tony realized that he was no longer in Autopsy. He looked around. It was a world of spires stretching toward a bright sky, windswept valleys and a narrow path. He was a little weirded out, but at the same time, he'd had too much experience with the supernatural world to wonder if this was real. _

_Whether it was real or not, it was happening._

_Then, he heard the lilting voice sing again...the same words as before._

"_Hear my silent prayer  
__Heed my quiet call  
__When the dark and blue surround you  
__Step into my sigh  
__Look inside the light  
__You will know that I have found you"_

"I can hear you!"_ he said._

_The world trembled at the sound of his voice._

"Greta?"

_Another shaking._

"_I am here."_

_He turned around and jumped back. Yes, it was Greta. Her eyes were white. She was white from her hair down to her feet. She always managed to freak him out. _

_She smiled at his fear._

"_Welcome."_

"Where am I?"

"_You are here."_

"What does that mean?"

"_It means that you are here and that trying to place a location on something that does not really exist is useless."_

"Okay. Then, _why_ am I here?"

"_You are here because you need to be here. Come."_

_Greta turned and walked away from Tony, forcing him to follow her. Like he had experienced in the demon world, one step didn't really cover a defined distance. Every step changed where they were rather significantly and he ignored the changing scenery._

"You're doing this to Tim, aren't you!"

"_Yes. Come."_

_Greta didn't even pause at Tony's question. He was reminded again why he didn't like her. For someone supposedly on the side of saving the world, she sure had a funny way of showing it._

"_I am not a human being for all that I have been forced into that shape."_

"Forced?"_ Tony asked, forgetting to be annoyed that she had read his mind._

"_Yes. Forced. The knower explained it to you. I should not exist in this form. I should be something that occurs, not an anthropomorphization."_

"A what?"

"_A human-shaped thing. I have been made into a tangible thing and it is not what I should be. The knower understands this, but he fears to step into a world of dreams."_

"That's not true! Tim has been trying to understand all this!"

_Greta stopped, whipped her white cloak around. It filled the world and when it fell..._

_...they were on a hillside beside a cave._

"_He is not. He is a knower. He does not need to try. If he allows it, he will know."_

"But dreaming is different."

"_Only because he makes it so."_

"Why tell me and not him?"

"_You are his companion."_

"So?"

"_You may succeed in convincing him to accept his fate."_

"Fate? What do you mean?"

"_There is an end to all things."_

"You're saying he has to die?"

"_All things must die eventually. Even a knower."_

"So...to save the world, Tim has to die?"

"_The knower has to die. The dreamer has to die. He has both."_

"Does he know that?"

"_He is the knower."_

"Does he know _that_?"

_Greta smiled._

"_Yes, the knower knows that."_

"He told me that he didn't know."

_Greta just smiled._

"_Have you noticed how every word you speak here shakes the world? Have you seen that it trembles with the interaction between reality and dreams?"_

"Yes."

"_This is a place that should not exist. It is filled with things that should not exist. It is created in a way that should not be possible. What happens to dreams when you wake up? They disappear because they do not exist. This exists, but you are awake."_

"What does this have to do with forcing Tim to see all these nightmares?" Tony asked.

_Greta pulled a wisp of something out of a basket Tony hadn't noticed before. She blew on it and it vanished. Then, she reached out and took hold of Tony's arm. He shivered at the unwelcome contact. She ignored that and forced him to stand beside her._

"_Watch."_

_Tony stared in the direction Greta indicated and suddenly, he was watching Tim. It was like a movie almost. He could see the water overwhelm Tim and drag him down, but at the same time, he could also see the hospital around him. He started forward to stop it, but Greta's grip on his arm was quite strong for being something that wasn't real._

"_Watch."_

_Tony watched and didn't understand what he saw. Something in Tim's face seemed to change. Almost like there was something else there. Just for a moment._

"What was that?"

"_His natural response to a dreamed threat, but he is afraid of it and suppressed it. These dreams are simple and he could fight them off easily because they are not real. Not yet. But he is resisting using that power because he fears what it means for him. He has done this every time. Whether it is a conscious decision or not, the result is the same. He is not doing what is necessary and if he cannot do it this time, he will not be able to do it when it matters."_

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"_Watch and understand. You must learn what he already knows."_

_Tony hated watching. He hated being here with Greta's hand holding him back from trying to help Tim right away. He'd never been about sitting and thinking...and waiting. He made a decision and did things. _

"Where did these things come from?"

_Greta smiled again and pointed behind him. Tony turned._

"A dreamcatcher."

"_Precisely."_

"But they're just...souvenirs."

"_Not here. Not now. They are what they are called."_

_She opened the basket, looked at Tony, almost daring him to protest, and then let another wisp go._

"Tim saw the dreamcatcher."

"_Good. Then, perhaps he will admit what he can do."_

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim stopped screaming when the nightmare ended. He hadn't enjoyed that one. Not at all.

"Tim, what do you see?"

Tim sighed.

"It's different every time. It's always a nightmare. Someone's nightmare."

"What is _your_ nightmare?"

Tim smiled and looked at the ceiling. A nightmare, but it was also what was true...not that he had to clarify that.

"I only have one nightmare."

"What is that?"

Tim hesitated...too used to keeping it a secret to be easy about telling a stranger.

"You can trust me, Tim. I'm here to help you, to listen."

Tim took a breath and let it out.

"I have to save the world from being destroyed. I'm the only one who can do it, and I don't know if I'm strong enough because there are so many things that I don't know if I can handle. ...and I'm afraid that I'll have to die if I succeed."

"Why would you have to die?"

"Because I'm not normal and the things that make me not normal could kill me in the end. That's what frightens me."

"Does anyone else know about this nightmare?"

"Tony does, but it's my fear and you can't really understand someone else's fear."

"That's true. So why did you tell Tony and no one else?"

"I wouldn't have," Tim admitted. "But I didn't really have a choice. He was there at the beginning."

"The beginning of what?"

"Of the nightmare. It gets worse over time, but it's always the same. I can't avoid it no matter how much I want to."

"Is it just a nightmare, Tim? Or is it more?"

"It feels like more," Tim said. "It's always felt like more."

"So...do you prefer to see these other nightmares to your own?"

"No, because I can't control them."

_Yeah, you can, McGee! You just need to do it!_

Tim jumped. He had heard Tony, but he had thought that he'd blocked Tony out.

"What is it, Tim? Another nightmare?"

"No...just thought I heard something."

"I see."

Tim turned back and looked at Dr. Tragan.

"Do you really? Or are you just saying that?"

Dr. Tragan smiled. "I don't understand everything, but I can understand your being a little jumpy. Let me tell you, though, Tim, that you're stumping me so far."

"Why?"

"Because you're totally lucid in between your terrors."

"Maybe I'm not. Maybe I just haven't shown my insanity yet."

"You don't believe that, though, do you. I think I'm pretty good at reading people and you don't think you're crazy. You may not know what's going on right now, but I almost think that you have an idea."

Tim shrugged.

"The only thing that I can think of to explain this is that Sleep is trying to drive me crazy by sending me other people's nightmares."

"And if that's right?"

"Maybe I have to fight Sleep."

"I don't think that will help. Sleep will generally win in the long term."

"You're probably right," Tim said.

"All right, you'll be under observation for the next few days, I'll be meeting with you and someone will be making sure that you don't hurt yourself or others during your terrors."

"Right."

"For now, you have some free time."

"Okay."

Tim got up and walked to the window of his room. Dr. Tragan left him alone, although Tim understood that he'd never really be alone in here. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

He saw the dreamcatcher.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Where is Tim?" Ziva asked when Gibbs and Ducky came back to NCIS.

"He's seeing a doctor," Ducky said.

"What kind of doctor?" she asked.

She'd obviously heard about what had happened.

"A psychiatrist," Gibbs said. "He won't be here for a few days."

Ziva nodded. "Is Tony with him?"

"No. He should be here. He didn't go with us," Ducky said.

"We left him in Autopsy."

"He was not there," Ziva said. "I went down there and he was definitely not there...but his car is here."

"Perhaps he went after us," Ducky suggested, although he sounded uncertain.

"But without his own car?"

"Jethro?" Ducky asked.

"If he ran off after McGee, he didn't tell me."

That was all Gibbs said. He sat down at his desk and started to work. Ziva looked at Ducky and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Do you think we should look for him, Gibbs?" Ziva asked.

"Tony?"

"Yes."

"No. He'll show up. He'd better."

That was the end of it. An unsatisfactory end, but the end.

For now.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Tony didn't like watching this. He had seen Tim collapse under the weight of a number of nightmares. Every time, he saw the same thing. Tim would start to change in the face of the assault, and every time, he had suppressed it. It was getting frustrating, and he hated seeing Tim suffering._

"Can't you just _tell_ him? Why do you keep doing this?"

"_He needs to know, not just be told."_

_Tony sighed._

"How long have I been here?"

_Greta only smiled._

"Right. It doesn't matter."

_He had got used to the trembling every time he spoke._

_Greta opened the basket yet again and pulled out a wisp. She didn't blow it away. Instead, she began to waft it back and forth between her white hands._

"_Do you recognize this nightmare?"_

"All of them look the same to me."

"_This is your nightmare. I have been saving it."_

"Mine?" _Tony looked at the wisp. It didn't look any different than the others and he felt no connection to it._

"_Yes, yours. It is your dream. It is your nightmare. The deepest fear your mind dwells on in sleep."_

_Tony remembered that he hadn't had any nightmares the night before. It had been a rarity that he had appreciated...but now..._

"Don't send that!" _he said. _"Don't make Tim see what I dream."

"_Would you like the chance to teach him?"_

"What do you mean?"

"_You have been in his dreams before. This is your dream. Your mind can travel on it."_

"Only my mind?"

_Greta laughed. Her voice was as pleasant as it had been when he had thought she was a living, breathing human being. It only made her more chilling._

"_If you succeed in getting him to do what is needed, you do not want to be stuck in his head physically."_

"Oh."

"_You have helped him in dreams before. Are you willing to do that again?"_

"Yes."

_It didn't take any time to think about it. Tim needed help. Tony now understood, more or less, what Tim needed to do. That meant he would go._

"_Very well, human. Look."_

_Tony stared at the wisp that was his nightmare. Greta began to swirl it around between her hands. It was almost as if she was hypnotizing him. Tony wanted to resist but he forced himself to relax enough to be drawn into that swirl._

"_Step into my sigh  
__Look inside the light  
__You will know that I have found you"_

_Tony felt himself being sucked into the swirl. Then, he was gone._

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

_Greta watched as Tony's corporeal form fell to the ground, the mind gone. This would be the chance for the knower to learn what he should know already. She had been confident that the human would not want that nightmare to be seen by the knower. It would be something he would want to hold off._

_A black swirl took the form of Death._

"_He has gone?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Will it work?"_

"_Yes."_

"_You are confident."_

"_I know what humans are underneath the veneer of flesh. I see it every night. They do not hide themselves when they are asleep. I know them. I know them better than any can know them. This will work because the human will not let the knower see what he has dreamt."_

_There was another whirl of black and Death was gone. Greta looked back at the dreamcatcher. There was no limit to the number of nightmares she could gather, but she would wait for now. She would see if the human would do what was necessary._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony landed on his feet. The floor was simple wood. It was like he was in a cabin or something. He didn't know exactly where he was or how he would get to where he could confront Tim and keep him from seeing that dream.

"Tim?" he called.

There was no trembling. So he was out of that strange world. He saw a door. There was light streaming in around the edges of it.

There was nothing for it but to walk through the door. He opened it.

...and he was sucked through as if in a reverse wind tunnel. Instead of it blowing him back, it was pulling him forward.

"Tim!" he shouted.

Suddenly, he was flung forward into black. Tim was there, his back to Tony. Tony looked around.

"Tim?" he asked.

"What are you doing in here, Tony?" Tim asked, without turning around.

"Where is here?"

"My head. I'm asleep, but I don't dream when I'm asleep anymore."

"Not at all?"

"Not dreams. Just realities. That's bad enough. I don't need dreams, too."

"Tim, what are you doing?"

"Waiting for the next attack."

"Why aren't you fighting back?" Tony asked.

"I don't know how."

"Yes, you do. I've been watching."

"Watching? How?"

"Greta. How do you think I got in here?"

"I guess."

"Tim, what are you doing?"

"Waiting. Like I told you."

"Why here?"

Tim laughed a little bit.

"It's my subconscious, Tony. I don't really choose the setting. Actually, I haven't ever really been here. I guess that Greta must have set this up. So another nightmare is coming?"

"Yeah, and you need to fight it, Tim!" Tony said.

"I can't."

"Yeah, you can! I've seen it!"

"I don't want that, Tony."

"You don't have a choice! Greta told me. This is going to keep happening until you let it happen."

"Let what happen?"

"Let that fight happen. I don't know what it means, but you change. You start to change and then you stop it. You've got to let it happen."

Tim was quiet for a long period of time...whatever time meant in this place.

"You don't know what you're saying, Tony. You don't know. I took the dreamer inside me, but..."

"It scares you, doesn't it."

Tim nodded. He got to his feet and he turned around. Tony fell back a step. Tim's eyes were gone.

Like the dreamer.

"Exactly, Tony," Tim said. "You're telling me to let the fight happen, but this is what starts happening. This. And I don't know what will happen if I let it...happen."

Tony swallowed, but then, he forced himself to walk to Tim, to walk through this blackness and grab him by the arms.

"You're still Tim. You've had the dreamer inside you for months already."

"Inside. Controlled."

"Wasn't the point of all that to make him a part of you?"

Tim nodded.

"Then...let it go. If this has to be like this, Tim...then, let it!"

"I don't want to, Tony."

"I don't want to see you committed for seeing nightmares while you're awake. It won't stop. You know what Greta's like. She's not going to let you get away with not doing it."

"Tony." Tim looked around. "You're not supposed to be in here. Why would she use you?"

"Because she knew that I could convince you," Tony said with a forced jaunty smile.

Tim smiled in reply, although the whole no-eyes thing didn't really help matters.

"Tim, another nightmare is coming. I don't want you to see it."

"At least, I'm asleep."

"You'll wake up."

Tim looked at him in some surprise.

"How do you know? Tony, do you know what the nightmare is going to be?"

Tony didn't see how he could lie about that.

"Yeah. I do...and you don't want to see it."

"No, I don't, but I didn't want to see any of them. What makes this one so bad?"

"It's mine, Tim. It's my nightmare and I don't want you seeing what I dream about. I want you to stop fighting the dreamer stuff inside you and using it like you know you're going to have to."

"Your dream? That bad?"

"Yeah, it is," Tony said. "And I don't want you seeing it."

The door behind them began to shake. The dream was coming.

"Please, Tim. Please, fight it off! You're so much stronger than this!"

"I'm so tired of it, Tony!"

"Well, buck up and deal with it! You're the knower! Now, you're the dreamer, too! You have to save the world! So get going!"

"You don't know what you're asking."

"Then, show me. Banish my nightmare and stop this crap that Greta's pulling. Let her see that you're not a wuss and then, you can go home."

"Until the next time?"

"Yeah."

The door shook more violently.

"Fight it, Tim!" Tony shouted.

Tim looked at the door and then looked at Tony with those missing eyes.

"You really don't want me to see it?"

"I really don't want you to see it."

Tim swallowed and then nodded.

The door blew open and the nightmare streamed inside the black. Tim raised his arms, stretching his hands as if they were claws. Instead of the familiar dragons that Tony expected, the black holes that were Tim's eyes began to expand, to grow larger until they seemed to take up his whole face. The nightmare was stopped abruptly at his hands. The nightmare began to swirl around his hands, reminding Tony of how Greta had pulled him into the nightmare in the first place. Then, suddenly, Tim jerked back. The light of the nightmare was sucked into those holes where his eyes should have been.

There was a moment of silence.

"Tim...what–?"

That was all Tony had time to say. Tim drew his hands back and then flung them forward. As he did so, the light of the dream was expelled. To his surprise, Tony felt himself thrown violently along with the nightmare.

Out of Tim's subconscious mind. Out of that black room. Out of all that he could understand and as he was thrown, he suddenly felt something.

Not only was the dream being rejected, he could see that it was getting swallowed up in something.

In black.

In Tim's eyes. In the dreamer eyes that were empty, bottomless, hungry to be filled.

And he understood Tim's fear. The dreamer was hungry for the dreams to fill it. The dreamer would devour them, wrench them out of existence.

...and Tony was afraid that he was going to be devoured as well.

Could his mind survive what would destroy a dream?

Suddenly, he felt it. He felt the nightmare being devoured and he was tied to that nightmare.

"Help!"

He had seen the black depths of dreamer eyes before and almost been lost in them. Now, he was going to be lost in them forever because there was no Tim to hear him. There was no Gibbs to stop the process. All there was...just Tony and his nightmare in some void that was about to become a whole lot emptier.

He was sucked toward the blackness.

He tried to resist.

He couldn't.

He called for help as the blackness surrounded him.

As the destructive power of the dreamer began to obliterate his mind.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Dr. Tragan hurried to the room of his newest patient. Tim had begun screaming and thrashing about in his sleep, but no one could wake him up. It was actually almost a relief that he was having a nightmare at the normal time, but it was worrisome that they couldn't seem to get him out of it. He'd seen people deeply asleep, but it had been ten minutes now that they had been actively trying to pull Tim out of his nightmare. Unsuccessfully.

"No eyes! I have no eyes!" Tim screamed suddenly. They were the first words he'd used.

That meant he could be headed toward consciousness.

Tim covered his face and curled into a ball.

"I have no eyes! My eyes are gone!"

"Tim, you have eyes. Wake up."

Tim shook his head.

"He's being pulled apart! I'm killing him! In my eyes!"

"Tim, open your eyes. Look at me."

Tim resisted when Dr. Tragan gently pulled his hands down from his face.

"Tim," he said calmly.

Tim sat up and stared at Dr. Tragan with a terrified expression. For just a second, Dr. Tragan could have sworn that there was a black spot in Tim's eyes, but he blinked frantically and it was gone. He dismissed the idea. It wasn't even in the realms of possibility that Tim's eyes could have disappeared...temporarily.

"I don't have any eyes," Tim said, looking at Dr. Tragan...with his green eyes.

"Yes, you do, Tim. I'm looking at them right now. Wake up. Completely."

Tim got his eyes focused on Dr. Tragan, but he was clearly nearly out of his mind with fear. Unlike the other terrors which ended abruptly, this was lingering.

"Tim, are you hearing me?"

Shaking, Tim nodded.

"I killed him!" he said, almost in a whimper.

"Who?"

"Tony!"

"How?"

"I dreamed...I let it take over and he was washed away! He was...I felt it...and..."

"Tim, it was just a dream. A nightmare. That's all it was. I'm sure Tony is fine."

Tim was shaking his head.

"Not just a dream. They're never just dreams."

"It is just a dream, Tim," Dr. Tragan said. "Calm down. Take a deep breath and calm down."

"Tony is going to die and he was trying to help! He came in there to help me and..."

"In where?"

"In my mind!"

Dr. Tragan could see that Tim was still very much in the grips of the nightmare he'd had. If this was a normal occurrence for him, it was possible that the daytime nightmares were some kind of reaction to extreme stress or burnout.

"Tim, we'll call Tony and get him here. Okay?"

"You won't find him."

"I'm sure we will. You can stay awake until we get him here. Bryan will stay here and keep an eye on you. All right?"

Tim was still trembling but he nodded. He closed his eyes tightly and kept nodding.

"Open your eyes, Tim. Don't close them."

Tim opened his eyes.

"Stay in the waking world until you can let the dreams go."

Tim nodded again.

"Good. I'll go and call your friend."

Dr. Tragan dialed the number he'd been given. The phone rang and rang and rang.

"_Hello, this is Tony. You know the drill."_

"Hello, Agent DiNozzo. This is Dr. Tragan. Agent McGee has been worried after a nightmare he had. Please call back as soon as possible."

He hung up and couldn't help thinking about the fact that Tim had insisted that Tony was in danger. It was much more likely that Tony had simply been unable to answer or hadn't heard his phone.

...but Tim was so insistent.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Greta stood and waited. _

_Black swirled and Death returned._

"_It is not his time," he said._

_Greta looked at the body on the ground._

"_No. I cannot call him back. The knower used the dreaming power well."_

"_You are saying..."_

"_Yes."_

_Death sighed. "Very well. It would be wrong to take him now. We do not need to upset the balance more by letting him die before his time. I will bring him back."_

_Death vanished. Greta sat down on a rock. It had succeeded as she had hoped. The knower had done as he needed. If he could risk the life of his friend, he would not hesitate to risk himself. And he had tapped the power that he had hidden within him._

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

_Death penetrated the chaos of destruction without effort. Nothing could hide from Death and there was no place he could not go. He was not bound by space. He was not bound by time, either. It was as easy to go back in time as it was to go back in miles. He moved back through to the moment when the destruction of the nightmare had begun. He saw the mind of the human and approached it, hearing the human's cries for help._

"_Here," Death said._

_The sound of his voice penetrated the chaos and the blackness he carried with him surrounded the mind of the human._

"_What's going on?" the human asked._

"_It is time to return to your body."_

"_What? Who are–? You're Death!"_

"_Yes."_

"_But...I'm not ready to die yet!"_

"_It is not your time to die, but you cannot stay here. You must return to your body if you wish to live. Only Death could reach to where you are. It would not take much more for your destruction."_

_The human looked uncertain and Death found that amusing. His death was imminent and yet he hesitated because it was Death saving him._

"_If you would wish to stay, human, you have but to say so. I do not usually take people early, but I would make an exception for you."_

_The human looked surprised and Death smiled._

"_Yes, Death has a sense of humor."_

_The human laughed a little._

"_I guess facing death or facing Death doesn't take much thought. I'll trust you."_

"_Good. Prepare yourself. The journey will not be what you are used to."_

"_What do you–?"_

_That was all the time Death gave. In the same motions as that of his twin, he swirled his black cloak, enfolded the human mind inside it and left the nightmare behind to its solitary annihilation._

_Then, they were back to the hillside. He shook out the cloak and the mind melded with the flesh of the body. It took no special effort to do so. They naturally came together. The human took a deep breath and sat up, looking around._

"That was...intense."

_The world trembled at his voice._

"_Yes."_

"Am I back in my body, now?"_ he asked. _

"_Yes," Greta said. "You are in your body. You succeeded in unleashing the dreamer."_

"He doesn't like it."

"_That does not matter, and he will do it when it is necessary."_

"And you know that, how?"

"_He almost destroyed you and he will care much less about his own comfort than he will about the lives of others."_

"Does that mean that you'll stop attacking him with nightmares?"

"_Yes," Greta said simply. "There is no point to it now that he has allowed the power of the dreamer out."_

"Why can't he do it on his own? Aren't the dragons enough?"

"_Reality is not always enough on its own. 'Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels.' A human artist by the name of Goya said that. Dreams are not enough on their own because they are at the mercy of reality, but reality, untempered by dreams, is brittle and can fracture...as the world is. Both are needed, and they must be united in one."_

"Is there a third part?"

"_A third?"_

"Yeah. It seems like everything in this mess comes in threes. The three-headed dragon. The three to destroy Mongothsberd. Is there a third part that McGee needs?"

"_Knowing, dreaming...perhaps, you could say there is a third, but it is not something that can simply be absorbed into oneself, not something that can be given. It is more...and less."_

"What is it?"

_Greta smiled and began to swirl the air around her with a single white thread. The whole world began to swirl and the human began to fade away...as did the human world's memory of his vanishing. He would have been gone but the memories of those involved had been changed to accept it as expected, not worrying._

"What is it?"_ he asked again._

"_It is believing. Sometimes, belief can triumph over what is real and what is dreamed. Remember that, human."_

_Then, he was gone._

"_And now?" Death asked. "The dreamer is awake within him. The companion is back in his world. ...but the knower is confined."_

"_Only for now. Already, the way is set for an explanation that the world can accept. It did not even take any manipulation. The knower will be free."_

"_And will the world stand the strain?"_

"_For a time. The knower will be ready to face the Fracture when it comes. And when he repairs the Fracture, we will be free and the world will be safe. That is all that matters."_

"_All?" Death asked._

"_Yes, all." Greta grinned. "That does not mean I cannot have fun on the way. If I must be in this form, I can enjoy it as I may."_

_Death smiled and swirled into oblivion. Left alone, Greta looked back at the cave. The dreamcatcher wavered in the mouth of it and then, at her gesture, it vanished. It was no longer needed._

_For now._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony sat up on his bed, not aware of anything for a moment. He felt stretched and raw. He wasn't sure where he was. Gradually, there was a sound that impinged on him. Gradually, he noticed that there _was_ sound. In that other world, he didn't know what it was, but it hadn't been sound. He had made the only sound that existed there.

Sound.

Ringing.

A phone.

"My phone!" he said aloud. He fumbled for it and answered. "DiNozzo."

"_Agent DiNozzo?"_

"Yes. Who is this?"

He looked around and realized that he was at home. They had returned him to his...home. He was distracted enough by the realization that he almost missed what was being said.

"_This is Dr. Tragan from the hospital. I'm so glad that you're finally answering the phone. I've been trying to contact you for an hour. Tim was so insistent that I was actually get a little worried myself."_

"Worried? About what?"

"_Could you come over here, please? Tim had a nightmare and he's convinced himself that he killed you. I'm not sure how, but given the situation, I'd like to ease his worries, and if you came, it would instantly show him that his worries were unfounded."_

Tony grimaced. Sometimes, it was hard knowing all that there was going on behind the scenes, but that was the way it had to be.

"Sure. I'll be right over. I'm sorry I didn't answer before. I didn't hear my phone. I'm lucky that my boss didn't call. He'd kill me."

"_One question before you hang up, Agent DiNozzo."_

"Yes?"

"_Has Tim been under a lot of stress lately?"_

"Well...for the last year or two, yeah, I'd say so." Probably one of the biggest understatements he'd ever made.

"_When was the last time he took a vacation?"_

"I don't know. Probably not for a while. Why?"

"_Because I'm thinking, more and more, that this breakdown of his is a result of stress, that he just burned out. Now, waking nightmares of the sort he's having isn't anything I've seen before, but his willingness to come here, the fact that, since he came, the nightmares have eased considerably...I think that he has been needing time away from work, and I think that, once we finish our observations, he'll be released but with the stipulation that he take time off. He needs it. I'll be telling this to Agent Gibbs, but I wanted to ask you as his friend."_

"Okay. I'll buy that. Are you sure that's what it is?"

"_Not yet. It's only been one day, but I think I'm right."_

"Okay, I'll be right over."

"_Thank you."_

Tony hung up and drove to the hospital as quickly as he could, knowing why Tim was so freaked out. Tim had almost been right.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim was no longer visibly freaking out. He had stopped rocking back and forth, but the devastation he felt couldn't go away. Not when he'd killed his friend who had been trying to help him.

He just sat on the bed staring at nothing, his hands covering his mouth. The dreamer was powerful. Yes, he'd need that power more than likely, but was anything worth killing a friend? He'd rather put himself in that position than have anyone else suffer the kind of obliteration Tony's mind more than likely had.

He couldn't stop trembling.

He'd take the nightmares for the rest of his life over this.

"Tim? Can you hear me?"

Tim nodded but didn't look up.

"Tony's here."

Tim couldn't believe that.

"Hey, Probie, I knew you needed a vacation, but you could have just submitted a request like everyone else. I'm sure Gibbs would have let you."

Tim lifted his eyes, almost afraid of verifying what he'd just heard.

Tony was grinning at him like he always did. Dr. Tragan was standing behind.

"Tony...you're alive."

"Of course, I am! You can't dream me dead, no matter how much you might want to."

Tim just closed his eyes and tried not to break down. No matter what Dr. Tragan had said, he had been sure that he'd killed Tony, not realizing that Tony's presence had been tied to his nightmare.

There was a shifting as Tony sat down beside him on the bed.

"Hey, McGee, it's okay. Don't worry."

"I thought I'd killed you," Tim whispered.

"I know, but Death wouldn't take me. They'd just send me home. Besides, we have a movie to watch when you get out of this."

"Does this count?" Tim asked.

"Absolutely. It would be criminal to pass up the chance."

Tim opened his eyes again and managed a weak smile.

"So...now what?" he asked.

Tony winked at him.

"You stick around in here for a couple of days. They let you out and they tell you to take a vacation. ...and you could use one."

"Do I get a vacation from being me?"

"I don't think you need one, Probie. Maybe some days out on the beach."

Tim laughed a little.

"Sounds nice."

"Good. So you just relax and enjoy the best the hospital has to offer. You'll see. I'm right."

"I'm glad I didn't kill you," Tim said.

"I'm glad you didn't, too."

Tim took a deep breath. Tony obviously knew more than he did about what had happened.

"What do you think?" he asked. "Are the nightmares done?"

"I'll bet they are," Tony said. "I'm no expert, but I'll bet they are."

"Thanks, Tony."

"No problem."

Tony thumped him on the back and Tim wanted to hug him. He didn't, but seeing the reality rather than the dream...it was a relief. A distinct relief. And Tony would explain everything when Tim wasn't under observation, but he could depend on the nightmares being gone.

All in all, it was a definite improvement over how he'd been feeling only a few minutes before.

"I think you should get some sleep, Tim. Some real sleep."

One more thump on the back and Tony stood. He smiled at Tim and then left the room. Tim was still feeling shaky, but he felt better.

"There, Tim. I told you that Tony was fine."

"Yes, you did," Tim said.

"He gave you some good advice. I'd recommend that you take it and get some sleep. And he's also correct that I'm going to recommend that you take a vacation. We'll finish the observation to make sure that this isn't a lull, but your reactions are similar to people who have become burned out. So you need to give your body a rest. You can't take on the world if you can't deal with the dreams."

Tim smiled. Dr. Tragan was more right than he could possibly realize.

"Okay. I'll try to sleep again."

"If you find that you can't, I can give you a sedative for tonight, but if you can get there on your own, that would be better."

"Okay."

Tim lay down, tossed and turned for a few minutes...and then fell asleep.


	7. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Tim stayed at the hospital for two more days and, with no more nightmares forthcoming, Dr. Tragan released him with a warning that he needed to take it easy for a while. If he was right about the cause of the waking nightmares, there could be a relapse if he went back to work too soon. Gibbs explained it to Vance and Vance agreed to give Tim two weeks off with an evaluation at the end of that time.

To most people's surprise, Tony offered to let Tim stay with him for a few days...as a precaution against a relapse. To their even greater surprise, Tim accepted.

Tim slept almost solidly for the first couple of days. Even with his experience, he _was_ genuinely tired out by everything he'd had to do. It was kind of nice not to have anything to do. No nightmares. No dreams. Just resting.

But after that, there were a few things that had to happen.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Which one are we going to watch?" Tim asked.

"_Road to Rio_," Tony said, "but we need to talk about something else first."

"What?"

"Greta said that you have to die in order to save the world and that you knew that already. You told me you weren't sure."

Tim sat down on Tony's couch and stared at the TV.

"I didn't lie to you."

Tony sat down, too.

"Then, tell me how you were telling the truth!"

Tim smiled, although he still didn't make eye contact.

"I know that the knower and the dreamer have to die. ...but I don't know how much of me that is. I don't know if that means that the power will die or if it means that _I_ will die. ...and I can't know that, Tony."

"Why not? You're the knower!"

"Because no one gets to know how they die. That would keep them from really living. They would be continually waiting for that moment. They would be continually worrying about its approach. If that's what will happen to me, I don't know it. I know what I have to do, and now, I know what power I have to use. ...but I don't know if I'll succeed and I don't know if it means I'll die."

"What _do_ you know, McGee?"

Tim smiled and looked at Tony.

"I know that I'm really looking forward to watching _Road to Rio_ tonight, and I hope that we can watch _Road to Bali_ next time and have that be it...since _Road to Hong Kong_ isn't as good as the others."

Tony kept the serious expression for a little while and then he smiled and started the DVD going.

They started watching.

"For what it's worth, Tim, I don't blame you at all for what happened in your subconscious."

"What did you dream, Tony?"

Tony shook his head.

"My dream. You're not the one who should see. Watch the movie."

Tim smiled.

"Okay."

They both focused on Bing and Bob.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"_Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker's man. Bake me a cake as fast as you CAN!"_

"_That's what they get for not seeing our pictures!"_

They both fell asleep before the end came.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Tim walked forward, eyes blank and staring, his hand sticking straight out with the dragons crawling all over it._

"_No, Tim. Please!" Tony begged. "No!"_

"_I'm sorry, Tony."_

_Tim grabbed Tony and shoved his hand straight into Tony's chest. Then, he pulled it out again and had Tony's heart in his hand._

"_I need everything, Tony. I need it all."_

_Tony fell to the ground and the dragons began eating his body._

Tony sat up, taking a deep breath and looked over at Tim who was still sleeping. He let out the inhalation in a whoosh and stared at the TV screen.

No, he'd never tell Tim about that particular dream. Tim didn't need to know about it. Ever.

He got up and walked into his bedroom and slept the rest of the night.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

_Tim walked up to the cave and looked around._

"_Greta?"_

"_You do not have to use that name. You know what I am."_

"_Names are easier," Tim said._

"_What do you want?"_

_Tim closed his eyes and thought. Then, he opened his eyes and looked down at what had appeared in his hands._

_A dreamcatcher._

"_What?" Greta asked._

"_I want to know what Tony dreamed, what his nightmare was that he didn't want me to see."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because I'm mostly human and I want to know," Tim said, honestly._

_Greta looked at him for a moment and then shrugged._

"_Very well."_

_She took the dreamcatcher from him and threw it up in the air. It hung, suspended in place. She walked behind it and stirred up the winds until a wisp was blown into the netting. It stuck._

"_That's it?"_

"_Yes."_

_Tim walked over, pulled down the wisp and turned it over in his hands._

"_How do I–?" he began and then stopped. He didn't need to ask. _

_He knew._

_Cupping his hands around the wisp, he brought it up before his eyes. He let the dreamer free. The dreamer sucked the wisp in and let it go. Tim watched as he killed his friend. Tony's nightmare...that Tim would have to kill him to save the world._

_Tim smiled wanly._

"_That will never happen, Tony," he whispered. "Never. I'll die, first."_

_Then, he let the wisp go. He looked at Greta._

"_How long?"_

"_Not long at all. The exact time is uncertain. There are too many elements to know."_

_Tim nodded._

"_Thank you."_

_He walked back down the mountain._

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim woke up. He looked back toward Tony's bedroom.

"Whatever it takes, I'll do it, Tony," he said softly. "But you won't have to die. I will, first."

Tim sat quietly for a few moments. He could feel it.

The Fracture was coming.

FINIS!


End file.
